After 2 years of Covid restrictions and cancellations, most Maple Syrup Festivals are back on this Year! and I can hardly wait. Not only is this time of year a clear sign of spring just around the corner, kids and adults alike are ready to enjoy the great outdoors once again. With March Break fast approaching, plan ahead and purchase your tickets/passes sooner rather than possibly missing out later.
Maple Syrup is a pure, natural sweetener with an abundance of trace minerals that are essential to good nutrition, including potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, iron, zinc and tin, as well as calcium. This explains why demand for maple syrup has steadily increased with Quebec having to unleash their reserves in 2021.
It should be no surprise that Canada is the world’s leading producer and exporter of maple products, representing 75% of the global market. Quebec is by far the largest producer with over 95% of all Canadian exports. Which is fitting because according to historians, it was the French settlers who learned from Indigenous peoples how to tap trees to obtain sap and how to boil it down to reduce it to sweet syrup or sugar slabs. By the late 1700s and early 1800s Maple Sugar production was in full swing.
Fast forward to 2022 and after a 2-year hiatus, Maple Syrup Festivals are gearing up for the season and it’s time to get back to this great Canadian tradition while at the same time supporting local sugar bush farms.
Let’s enjoy what nature has to offer.
Here are some links where you can find Maple Syrup Festivals that are ON for this season:
Or find a local maple farm close to home here
Keep in mind, some Maple Syrup Festivals have been cancelled again this year so make sure to double check your local sugar bush farm before planning that road trip.
Sadly, we will not be tapping the Maple Trees this year. Instead, we’ve decided to allow our Trees to recuperate after last year’s disastrous gypsy moth infestation. But I’ve got my parka, my boots, my mitts and my toque so I’m ready to explore some sugar shacks close to home.
P.S. It’s hard to believe growing season also starts now, especially when there’s still 2’ of snow out there. But if like me, you grow from seed, you’ll know it’s time to get them hot and sweet pepper seeds in the dirt by mid-March.
Comments